Dan Rather Complains: Republicans 'Demonized' Nancy Pelosi, Turned Her Into a 'Villain'

Ex-CBS
broadcaster Dan Rather on Tuesday appeared on MSNBC and lamented the
fact that Republicans have turned Nancy Pelosi into a "villain" and
"demonized" her. The famous broadcaster also implied that sexism was
involved, gesturing to his female co-panelists, "She is from San
Francisco. She is a woman." Before being interrupted, he added, "And the
three of you can figure out-"

Speaking of sexism, on the June 11, 2007 Morning Joe,
Rather attacked Katie Couric, his successor at the CBS Evening News,
this way: "The mistake was to try to bring the 'Today' show ethos to the
evening news and to dumb it down, tart it up in hopes of attracting a younger audience."

Rather on Tuesday opined of Speaker Pelosi: "Ideal villain. And they
made a villain of her and they have demonized her from day one. And
what was said earlier, what's made it easy for them is she's been so
effective. " The CBS journalist couched his analysis by saying he
wasn't judging the Republicans' action, suggesting, "This is the way
politics are."

Jansing
and Co. Host Chris Jansing complained about the Republican National
Committee's Fire Pelosi bus, worrying, "She's been targeted. I mean,
they had a Fire Pelosi bus. A MSNBC graphic touted, "RNC Sanctioned
'Fire Pelosi' Bus Tour." Sanctioned? Isn't that what political parties
are supposed to do?

Jansing also saw sexism in the GOP attack: "And as a matter of fact,
I'm surprised at the number of women who said- people not involved in
politics or involved in the news business who think there's an element
of sexism involved in this because she's a strong woman."

A transcript of the November 2 segment, which aired at 12:43pm EDT, follows:

CHRIS
JANSING: Listen to these numbers. She has been featured in 400 ads that
have aired 130,000 times. At least four Democrats have released ads
touting their independence from Nancy Pelosi, saying that they won't
support her. Why is she such a target, Jonathan?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Because she's the Speaker of the House, because
she's been a very effective Speaker of the House. She passed climate
change. Hate crime laws. All sorts of things that the opposition, the
Republican Party-

JANSING: Because she's been successful?

CAPEHART: Yes. Because she's been successful and, also, because she's
told her members, do what you need to do to get elected. And if that
means throwing me under the bus, criticizing me, running ads saying
you're not with me, go right ahead. She's more concerned about the
numbers.

SABRINA SCHAEFFER (Independent Women's Forum): It's much more than
than. I think that, look, the Obama, Reid, Pelosi trifecta ran as
moderates and they've governed from the left. And I think that's been
alienating to a lot of voters. They're saying you said you were going to
be fiscally restrained, that you weren't going to be a tax and spend
liberal. But, instead ut we have bailouts. We had stimulus, we had
health care overhaul and all of these things don't add up. And on top of
that, I think she has spoken down to the American people. Look, she
said, Americans will like the health care bill when it is in it. And
people don't want to be spoken to like that. They know what was in the
bill. They know that they didn't like the government to-

JANSING: She's been targeted, though, Sabrina. She's been targeted. I mean, they had a Fire Pelosi bus.

KAREN FINNEY: I mean, early on, remember, the RNC did an ad when they
likened her to the James Bond character Pussy Galore. I mean, they have
really defamed her from the beginning. The right wing spin machine has
been cranking over time, making her the villain. Because, in campaigns
you always want to have, who's the villain and who's the good guy? And
Democrats, frankly, should be ashamed of themselves for letting it
happen. Because she has been effective.

JANSING: Well, they have not, in many cases, defended her. And as a
matter of fact, I'm surprised at the number of women who said- people
not involved in politics or involved in the news business who think
there's an element of sexism involved in this because she's a strong
woman. Do you think that's true?

FINNEY: Absolutely. As a woman, if she was a man, we wouldn't see the
attacks that we have seen. And, actually, what I hate about this is
she's done a lot for women in particular in terms of legislation from
health care with Lilly Ledbetter and she's done a lot for women.

SCHAEFFER: Well, I disagree with that last statement. I mean in terms
of a sexism, I think that politics and political arena, yes. Is there
some sexism in it? Sure. But, is that why people are angry at Nancy
Pelosi for allowing this to happen? No. They're not. It's because they
don't like what she stands for. And, look, Lilly Ledbetter is just,
legislative candy. That doesn't really help women. The health care
overhaul is really going to hurt women and that's what people are
responding to.

JANSING: Dan, I think of the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll that
just came out, the one thing that really struck me was among independent
voters, eight percent is Nancy Pelosi's approval rating. I don't know
when there's been a number like that. What do you think happened?

DAN RATHER: Well, the number is low. What's happened, the Republicans have been very smart. You can like it or not like it. You do need a villain and Nancy Pelosi for-

JANSING: And they decided early, right?

RATHER: They decided early. She is from San Francisco. She is a woman. And the three of you can figure out-

JANSING: A bastion of the liberal left.

RATHER: A bastion of the liberal left. Ideal villain and they made a
villain of her and they have demonized her from day one. And what was
said earlier, what's made it easy for them is she's been so effective.
One wants to remember, when health care was hanging in the balance, she
put it on the line for President Obama. And now she pays the price for
that. I'm not saying that she shouldn't. This is the way politics are.
The Republicans zeroed in on her. Demonized her and did it effectively,
unrelentingly so and winds up with eight percent approval rating.

JANSING: Is this the way politics works? I mean, she was the one that
pushed through a lot of the programs that, frankly, folks who are
Republicans, folks who are tea partiers, folks disenchanted with the way
government is right now, are against. So, was it just smart on it their
part?

FINNEY: One of the people who did what she said she was going to do. I
mean, you're right, she put it on the line for health care and climate
change and that fell aside on the Senate side. So, she stayed true to
the agenda. And I want to go back to one thing you said, actually. It
was Nancy Pelosi, you should know, that in health care legislation made
sure that some of the elements of being a woman would not be considered a
pre-existing condition in our ability to get health insurance. So, I
think that was actually very important for her to make that corrected.

SCHAEFFER: To respond to your comment about independence. I think it's
more important to look at what independents- eight percent support her
and maybe it's because, if you at a poll that the Independent Women's
Voice did in September, over 80 percent of independents feel that the
government is gotten too large. You can't separate that from health care
reform.

RATHER: Well, that's a very good point. But, you need a face, you
need a face you can attack and the Republicans are masterful at it. I
give them credit for it. We should give them credit for it. Whereas, the
Democrats tend to want to attack some body of people, corporate
America, the Republican Party.

SCHAEFFER: Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin.

RATHER: Don't have a face to attack. With Republicans it's Obama and
Pelosi. Two things. They go after them in the same way that in football
you want to take out the other team's key player. Take out Tony Romo if
you can. If you can get Brett Favre, take him out. You want to take out
the key player. Republicans have done a good job of probably taking out
Nancy Pelosi.

SCHAEFFER: Well, I think we've taken them out, but also the ideas that they stand for.

- Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.

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